Tobias Pils
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Tobias Pils. Shh, mumok, Vienna, 2025 – 2026. Photo: Georg Petermichl / mumok
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Biography
Born 1971 in Linz, Austria
Lives and works in Vienna, Austria
Tobias Pils’ suggestive figurations are neither fully legible nor entirely abstract, creating associative worlds that resist straightforward reading. Following intuition rather than strict methodology, Pils pursues his ideas as they evolve. He explains: “When I start to paint, I have quite a clear idea of the motive ... the goal is to lose the idea through painting.” Viewers encounter unexpected iconography and motifs that branch in multiple directions, producing compositions of interpretive ambiguity. While diverse, his work carries an undefined narrative, appearing like scenes from a cryptic dream. Pils has also worked in large-scale installation, painting a mural at the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay in 2020, and presenting unified works at Musée Picasso Paris (2020), Basel Unlimited (2016), and Secession Vienna (2013).
Tobias Pils’s solo exhibition Shh opened at mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, in September 2025. The show is the most comprehensive presentation of his work to date. Pils has also presented his paintings at the Musée Picasso Paris, as well as at Basel Unlimited and Secession, Vienna. His work has been shown at various institutions worldwide, such as Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp; Museo Picasso, Málaga; Le Consortium, Dijon; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Musée Picasso Paris; Kunstmuseum Bonn; Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop; Aspen Art Museum; 21er Haus, Vienna; Kunsthalle Krems; Chinati Foundation, Marfa; National Art Museum of China, Beijing, among others.
Pils’ works are held in various collections, such as ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna; Goetz Collection, Munich; Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop; Kunstmuseum Bonn; Le Consortium Museum, Dijon; Lenbachhaus Munich; Lentos, Linz; Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum Stift Admont; Neue Galerie Am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz; Sammlung Reiner Speck, Cologne; The Warehouse, Rachofsky Collection, Dallas, and The George Economou Collection, Athens.
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Works
Tobias Pils
Untitled, 2019Ink on paperSigned rectoPaper dimensions:
115 x 83 cm / 45.3 x 32.7 inches
Framed dimensions:
129.5 x 107.5 cm / 51 x 42.3 inchesB-TPILS-.20-0007ExhibitionsExternal ExhibitionsNewsPressPublicationsVideo




